Mechanism for cutting sheet material



Dec. 11, 1951 B. J. FLORlAN ETAL MECHANISM FOR CUTTING SHEET MATERIALFiled Sept. 16, 1948 J-Z-"lf'tZtl'lvittkii iti 32 |NVENTORS= BERKELEYJQFLORIANFQ R.STEUART FLORIAN.

Patented Dec. 11, 1951 MECHANISM FOR CUTTING SHEET MATERIAL Berkeley J.Florian, Plantsville, and Rodriguez Steuart Florian, Southington, Conn.

Application September 16, 1948, Serial No. 49,528

5 Claims.

This invention relates to mechanism for cut ting sheet material andparticularly to a handoperated pinking instrument resembling scissorsfor operating upon cloth, leather or other sheet material.

It is an object of this invention to provide mechanism for expeditiouslyand accurately cutting cloth and other sheet material and particularlyto provide an improved pinking instrument or scissors of the class shownand described in my Letters Patent of the United States No. 2,174,222granted September 26, 1939, to Berkeley J. Florian.

To these ends we have provided certain improvements in mechanisms of theclass described, particularly pinking instruments of the type justreferred to, as set forth in the following description, the severalnovel features of the invention being separately pointed out and definedin the claims at the close of said description.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly broken away and partly in section,of a pinking instrument constructed in accordance with this invention.

Figure 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a plan view of a piece of flexible sheet material W after ithas been operated upon by the pinking instrument shown in Fig. 1.

Figure 4 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of the forward endportion of the instrument shown in Figure 1.

Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional detail on line 5-5 of Figure 6relating to the cutting disk hereinafter described and its actuatingclutch.

Figure 6 is an axial sectional detail of the cutting disk unithereinafter described and its pinion.

The illustrated embodiment of the invention is a pinking instrumentcomprising two members l and H which are pivotally connectedintermediate their extremities by means.of a pintle l2 whose oppositeend portions are forcibly fitted within holes provided in the lowermember ||l, said member being a lever and loosely mounted upon theintermediate portion of said pintle l2 so that it can be vibratedthereon relatively to the lever member ID.

Lever member I0 is made at its rear end with a finger-hole I3 so as toprovide a push-and-pull grip for the fingers of the hand of theoperator;

while the rear end of the lever member II is made with a hole M toreceive the thumb of said hand.

The forward end of lower member H3 is provided with an upper jaw l and alower jaw It, said twojaws being separated by a slot I! which is open atthe forward end of said member as shown. Jaw I 5 is slotted verticallytoprovide the same with spaced-apart relatively parallel side walls l8(Fig. 2) to receive between them the forward end portion of the upperlever memher H, said forward end portion being formed at its extremitywith a gear segment l9 that is in mesh with an interiorly cylindricalpinion annulus 2o rotatably supported by the tubular hub 2| (Figs. 5 and6) of a cutting disk or wheel 22 and several small cylindrical clutchrollers 24. The cutting disk 22 is made from hardened sheet steel andits hub 2| is rotatably mounted upon the intermediate portion of apintle 26 whose opposite ends are forcibly fitted into holes providedthrough the side walls l8. The hub 2| is made upon its exterior withthree longitudinal angular pockets 26 within each of which one of therollers 24 is arranged, one side Wall of each of said pockets being flatand tangentially disposed relatively to the axis of hub 2| as is usualin this type of clutch.

It will therefore be clear that when gear 29 is rotated in the directionof the arrow a in Fig ure 5 by movement of segment l9 in one directionit will act through the rollers 24 and hub 2| to rotate cutting disk 22in the direction of the arrow 11 of Fig. 1 and arrow 2) of-Figs. 1, 4and 5, and that when segment I9 is swung in the opposite direction thecutting disk 22 and its hub 2| will remain at rest on pintle 26 so longas a cylindrical hardened steel anvil roll 28 is held against theperiphery of said cutting disk.

This anvil roll 28 is disposed within a vertical slot provided throughthe forward end portion of the lower jaw l6 and is rotatably mountedupon the intermediate portion of a pintle 29 whose opposite end portionsare forcibly fitted within holes formed through the oppositely disposedside walls 36 and 31, (Fig. 2), bordering said vertical slot as shown inFig. 2.

The inner or rear portion of the lower jaw I6 is preferably integrallyconnected with the proximate portion of the lower member ID by a narrowisthmus 29 so that minute displacement of the free end of jaw l5 towardand from law I5 is possible under the influence of a manually adjustablescrew 30 by which the anvil roll is normally held against the peripheryof the cutting disk 22. The shank of screw 30 loosely occupies a holeformed through the jaw It with its inner threaded end portion occupyinga threaded hole 3| formed in lower member ID. At its outer end the screw30 is provided with a circular knurled head 32 by means of which it ismanu all operated.

Rotary movement of the cutting disk 22 in the direction of the arrow bof Fig. 4 is limited by the engagement of lever member I! with lowermember ID as shown in Fig. 4, while swinging movement of lever memberaway from member I0 is limited by the engagement of segment l9 with astop shoulder 33 (Fig. 4) provided upon lower member l0. 7

As shown in Figs. 5 and 6 the hub 2| of cutting disk 22 is a tubularelement having an exteriorly threaded end portion 34 of reduced diameteroccupying an aperture provided at the center of cutting disk 22, thelatter being fixedly clamped in position against an annular shoulderprovided upon hub 2| bymeans of a nut 35 mounted upon said threaded endportion of the hub.

As shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4, the oppositely disposed side walls 33 and3'! of the vertical slot provided in jaw l6 extend forwardly beyondanvil roll 28 a substantial distance and are pointed at their ends asshown at 38 thereby to provide pick-up fingers for use in directing thelower jaw is under the marginal portion of a piece of sheet material tobe cut while the latter rests fiatwise upon the flat top of a table orthe like, said fingers also serving to guide said marginal portion intothe entrance bight between cutting disk 22 and anvil roll 28.

The crotch of jaw 16, at the inner end of the vertical slot of thelatter, is formed with a cylindrical pocket 39 within which is mounted acylindrical body of felt 40 that is yieldingly urged toward and againstthe periphery of anvil roll 28 by a coiled spring 4| mounted within saidpocket. This body of felt serves as a wiper to clean the anvil roll oflint and fibers which sometimes accumulate thereon while operatin uponcertain types of sheet material.

When the edge of the sheet material is introduced into the bight betweencutter disk 22 and anvil roll 28 and the operator forces the handle endsof lever members Iii and ii together, the cutting disk 22 is rotated inthe direction I), and the sheet material is fed between the anvil andthe cutter by the latter and since the anvil roll is held against,movement away from the cutter by the thumb screw 30 during thisoperation the sheet material W, Figs. 1 and 3, is slitted by the cutteras at 42. 7

When the invention is embodied in a pinking mechanism as shown the outermarginal portion of the cutting disk is crimped so that the cutting edgethereof is sinuous as shown in Fig. 2, with the result that theinstrument performs a pinking operation upon the sheet material; thatis, it forms a sinuous slit bordered by scallops or angles as shown at42 in Fig. 3.

As shown in Fig. 6 the opposite sides of the marginal portions of thecutting disk may be beveled to provide the same with a sharp cuttingedge.

When the sheet material that is being cut rests upon a table or the likeand the pinker instrument is slid forwardly while resting upon saidtable or the like, the oppositely disposed side walls 36 and 3'5 of jawl6 act as runners which slide upon the top of the table or the like, thelower edges of said oppositely disposed side walls being of arcuateshape as shown and extending slightly below the periphery of the anvilroll 28 so as to maintain the latter out of contact with the table topor the like as the cutting operation progresses.

It is not essential that the inner end of the lower jaw [6 be integralwith upper jaw so long as said end is supported by the latter and thepressure of roll 28 against cutter 22 is controlled by the screw 30.

What is claimed is:

l. A mechanism for cutting sheet material comprising an upperthumb-operated lever member provided at its forward end with a gearsegment and a lower member provided at its forward end with'a'longitudinal slot extending from side to side thereof and open at oneend for the reception of the material to be cut and defining atsaidforwardend with upper and lower jaws; a cutting disk rotatablymounted upon said upper jaw adjacent to the forward end thereof andprovided with a hub; a rotatable pinion annulus surrounding said hub andmeshing with said segment; a cylindrical anvil r011 rotatably supportedby said lower jaw adjacent to the forward end thereof with itsperipheral surface in contact with the periphery of said cutting disk;oneway clutch mechanism between and co-operating with said pinionannulus and said hub through which said annulus acts when oscillated bysaid segment to rotate said hub and disk in one direction only therebyto cause the latter to feed the material between said roll and disk andsimultaneously to cause said disk to slit said material; an apertureformed perpendicularly through the intermediate portion of said lowerroll-carrying jaw; an adjustable member occupying said aperture forholding said anvil roll and lower jaw in co-operative relationship withsaid disk, said member having an inner threaded Portion occupying athreaded socket formed in said upper jaw and being rotatably adjustableto vary the pressure of said roll against said disk.

2. A mechanism for cutting sheet material according to claim 1 andwherein said anvil roll is mounted within a vertical slot providedthrough the forward end portion of said lower jaw and wherein theopposite side walls bordering said slot extend forwardly beyond saidanvil roll and are pointed for use in picking up the fabric to be cut.

3. A mechanism for cutting sheet material ac- :cording to claim 1 andwherein said anvil roll is mounted within a vertical slot providedthrough the forward end portion of said lower jaw and wherein theopposite side walls bordering said slot extend below the periphery ofsaid anvil roll to shield the latter against contact with the supportfor the sheet material during the cutting operation of the mechanism.

4. A mechanism for cutting sheet material according to claim 1 andwherein said anvil roll is mounted within a vertical slot provided inthe forward end portion of said lower jaw; wherein a pocket is formed insaid lower jaw rearwardly of the anvil roll; wherein a fibrous wiperelement is mounted within said pocket, and wherein a spring is providedwithin said pocket for yieldingly holding said Wiper element against theperiphery of said anvil roll to cause said element to clean lint fromsaid roll.

5. A mechanism for cutting sheet material according to claim 1 andwherein the rear end of said lower jaw is integrally connected with saidupper jaw by a narrow isthmus disposed at the rear end of saidfirst-mentioned longitudinal slot and wherein said last-mentionedadjustable member is disposed between said isthmus and said anvil rollfor holding the latter in position against said cuttin disk.

BERKELEY J. FLORIAN. R. STEUART FLORIAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Num er Name Date 1,488,832 Rauth Apr. 1, 19242,097,385 Spielman Oct. 26, 1937 2,174,222 Florian Sept. 26, 1939

